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ECONOMIC PRINCIPLE: Scarcity- How it forces us to make choices which result in opportunity cost.

When economists use the term “scarcity”, they are referring to the fact that the demand for a good is greater than the supply of the good. Because goods can be scarce, it means that people cannot have everything they want, and they must make choices which lead to one alternative being given up. Another term that economists use frequently is “opportunity cost”. Opportunity cost is the value of the alternative that was given up. In short, scarcity means people must make choices, and those choices come with an opportunity cost. We live in a world of limited resources, and this is what creates scarcity. If our resources were unlimited, we would have no need to make choices, and therefore no scarcity or opportunity cost. The resources in an economy are its labor, capital, and natural resources, also known as the factors of production. All three of these resources are limited, which again leads to scarcity and opportunity cost. The term “shortage” refers to the amount by which quantity demanded exceeds the quantity supplied at the current price of the good. This is not the same as scarcity because it can be fixed by a change in price, bringing the price back to equilibrium. The supply and demand curves are not shifting, the price and quantities are moving along the curves. Economic theory argues that we “can’t have it all” because our wants are unlimited, but our resources are limited. We must make choices pertaining to how our resources are used, and we must make choices of which goods to purchase because we simply do not have the resources to have everything we want.
MY SITUATION: I can produce two goods: blueberry muffins and chocolate chip cookie bars. I am the only one making the goods, so I am the only labor resource. I have several different capital

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